All-County: The Woodlands’ Langkamp wins Player of the Year

The Woodlands sophomore Abby Langkamp is the Courier’s Player of the Year.

The Woodlands sophomore Abby Langkamp is the Courier’s Player of the Year.

Photo: Jason Fochtman

Photo: Jason Fochtman

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The Woodlands sophomore Abby Langkamp is the Courier’s Player of the Year.

The Woodlands sophomore Abby Langkamp is the Courier’s Player of the Year.

Photo: Jason Fochtman

All-County: The Woodlands’ Langkamp wins Player of the Year

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Abby Langkamp stormed onto the Montgomery County softball scene as a freshman last year. Her encore performance as a sophomore this season was even better.

For her exploits at the plate and in the circle, The Woodlands pitcher and designated player is the Courier’s All-County Player of the Year.

Langkamp won the District 14-5A Player of the Year award after hitting .392 with three home runs, eight doubles and 35 RBI. In 153 2/3 innings at pitcher, the left-hander struck out 93 batters and walked 46. She finished 20-5 with a 1.50 ERA and 1.17 WHIP.

“The last two years, she pitched her butt off,” Lady Highlanders coach Richard Jorgensen said. “Her hitting both years has been great for us. In that fifth spot, her job is to drive in runs.”

Langkamp paired with junior right-hander Caitlin Bartsch to form a formidable pitching tandem as The Woodlands advanced to the Region II-5A finals for a third straight season.

“Abby did a great job last year; she was (14-5A and All-County) Newcomer of the Year,” Jorgensen said. “This year, she had a great season through district. Caitlin was hurt early in the year and Abby had to pull the weight there. Then once Caitlin came back, Abby continued to be more or less our leader until we got to the playoffs.”

What helped Langkamp be so successful in the circle was a certain devastating pitch.

“That drop ball is one that you get a lot of your groundouts on,” Jorgensen said. “Pitching to the strength of our defense, that’s what we want them to do — groundouts to our infield because they’re going to make the plays.”

Jorgensen said Langkamp’s value is in her left arm. Baylor recruited her as a pitcher, and she is verbally committed to the Bears.

But her hitting skills can’t be ignored. Langkamp slugged .559, and also had an on-base percentage of .540, which allowed the Lady Highlanders to deploy their speedy courtesy runners in her stead on the basepaths.

That’ll be tough to hear for The Woodlands’ opponents after Langkamp’s first two varsity campaigns. In a loaded lineup last year, she hit .400/.440/.660 with four homers, two triples, 10 doubles, 28 RBI and 15 runs. In the circle, she went 11-0 with four saves and a 1.31 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 77 strikeouts and 25 walks in 90 2/3 innings.

“She was better mentally this year, just being smarter at the plate, pitch selection and stuff like that,” Jorgensen said. “She was a lot more mature pitching and hitting her spots and making good decisions. Her freshman year, she would call off a lot of pitches. This year, she had a lot more confidence in her pitches.”

So, what’s left?

“Everyone can improve,” Jorgensen said. “She can improve at both spots.

“Hitting-wise, her and I have already talked about this, she can improve by being more aggressive, seeing that first pitch and getting up there and just driving it. Pitching-wise, she can improve by just having more confidence in all of her pitches. She’ll get that as she matures.”

Opponents of the Lady Highlanders are on notice.

Coach of the Year

Jorgensen is the Courier’s Coach of the Year.

He led The Woodlands (29-9) to the brink of the state tournament for a second straight season. The Lady Highlanders won their first state championship in 2011.

“This was a team that I was really, really proud of because coming into the year, we had lost our five seniors that we won a state championship with,” Jorgensen said. “They all went on to play college ball; four went on to play Division I. In the softball world, coaches, even the media, they weren’t giving us much of a chance going into this year. Oak Ridge was going to win district hands down, and The Woodlands was going to be down.”

But the Lady Highlanders rolled through 14-5A with a mark of 11-1 to win the league by two games over Bryan and Oak Ridge. In district play, they outscored A&M Consolidated, Bryan, College Park, Conroe, Lufkin and Oak Ridge 132-27.

Seniors who saw their first significant varsity action this season — Brittany Kellett at catcher, Autumn Zientek at first base, Stefani Diehl in right field and Holly Gillmor as a pinch runner — were also key in another deep postseason run.

“We had kids who played on JV last year really come through,” Jorgensen said. “We had great chemistry. One thing we talk about and focus on in practice every day, the expectations are very high for this program. We’re not going to take a step backward. We thought we had the team to go and win a state championship.”

The Lady Highlanders came back to win a pair of best-of-three playoff series after losing Game 1s to Atascocita in the regional quarterfinals and McKinney Boyd in the regional semifinals.

Eventual state runner-up Kingwood ousted The Woodlands by sweeping the Region II-5A championship series. The Lady Highlanders, who also advanced to the regional semifinals in 2010, lost to eventual state runner-up Klein Collins in a one-game regional final last year.

Offensive MVP

More than any other player this year, Devon Tunning delivered at the plate.

Montgomery’s senior shortstop is the Courier’s Offensive Most Valuable Player.

Bound for the University of Texas, Tunning hit for an average of .580 with an on-base percentage of .604 and a whopping .914 slugging mark.

“Devon would get on and get the big hit,” Lady Bears coach Michelle Rochinski said. “She would always get things going.”

Montgomery’s No. 3 hitter helped the Lady Bears finish 26-10. They were swept by Nederland in the area playoffs after making their first appearance in the state championship game last season.

Tunning mashed four home runs, one triple and 13 doubles. She also sliced 29 singles and scored 31 runs.

“She does have power, but she also plays the field,” Rochinski said. “She could look out and see where the outfielders were playing and that all she needed was to get on base.

“She just had it going this year at the plate.”

It will be tough for Montgomery to fill Tunning’s shoes next season.

“She’s a great ballplayer, a great person and one of the team leaders,” Rochinski said. “Of course we’re going to miss her, but we wish her luck.”

Defensive MVP

In a big moment, coach Amanda Brimberry and everyone else in the Oak Ridge dugout wanted the ball hit to Amber Serrett.

The Lady War Eagles’ sophomore was a vacuum at shortstop and is the Courier’s Defensive Most Valuable Player.

In 104 chances, Serrett compiled 51 assists and 51 putouts. She committed only two errors for a fielding percentage of .981.

“In my 16 years of coaching, she’s the best all-around shortstop that I’ve ever seen on the field,” Brimberry said. “She’s really humble about it; she knows that she has a job to do and she does it.”

Serrett was the District 14-5A Defensive MVP after earning a first-team all-district nod last season.

“Some kids just have the natural ability, the natural talent,” Brimberry said. “She has the natural talent, and she works very hard.

“The arm is her best asset. She can field the ball deep in the hole and make the throw to first. She also reads the ball really well off the bat.”

On an Oak Ridge team that played five other sophomores, Serrett made her presence known.

She hit .404 with an on-base percentage of .481 and slugged .574 with one home run, one triple, 11 doubles, 14 RBI, a squad-best 29 runs and six stolen bases.

In the bi-district playoffs, Atascocita swept the Lady War Eagles, who finished 24-7.

Serrett is already verbally committed to LSU.

Pitcher of the Year

Magnolia sophomore Cori Cooper is the Courier’s Pitcher of the Year.

The right-hander led all county pitchers with an astounding 9.5 strikeouts per seven innings. She finished 17-10 with a 1.80 ERA and 217 strikeouts in 159 2/3 innings.

“In the game of softball, you have to have pitching,” Lady Bulldogs coach Renee Bialas said. “We’re lucky to have Cori. She’s a strong pitcher and, honestly, I don’t think we’ve seen the best of Cori yet.”

Anyone who saw Cooper pitch this season — and the opponents who waved helplessly as strike three zoomed by their bats and into catcher Emily Garza’s glove — knows how overpowering her repertoire already is. And she has two more years to hone her craft.

“Speed is her biggest asset,” Bialas said. “Speed, and now she’s learning to change that speed, and I think that’s pretty effective. And she’s got good control of her pitches.”

Cooper throws a riseball, dropball, changeup, curveball and screwball. Bialas said the curve is her best pitch — just ahead of the screwball — and she’s still developing the changeup.

But Cooper hardly struggled. She issued only 34 walks and finished the season with a WHIP of 0.96.

“When you don’t give out very many free bases, that’s tremendous,” Bialas said. “She’s a developing pitcher, and to be that good of a pitcher as a sophomore — I can’t wait until she’s a senior. Plus, she’s pretty darn good at the plate too.”

That she is.

In addition to her monster season in the circle, Cooper hit .436/.454/.752 with seven home runs, 11 doubles, 38 RBI and 16 runs.

The right-hander was the best asset for Magnolia (20-11), which missed the playoffs for only the second time in Bialas’ 17 years at the helm.

“Cori was able to keep us in the ballgame,” Bialas said. “If we had a few hits here and there, it would’ve been a different season.”

Newcomer of the Year

Madison Washington played a huge role for Magnolia West this year.

The freshman moved from shortstop to catcher just before the start of district play and helped the Lady Mustangs qualify for the playoffs for the second straight time after they made their first appearance last season.

She is the Courier’s Newcomer of the Year.

“At the time we made the move, the whole atmosphere of our team changed. It just started clicking for us,” Magnolia West coach Sheryl Tamborello said. “We didn’t have her pegged at catcher starting out; we had her playing shortstop. But right before district, we were having too many runners run on us and we moved her to catcher. After we made the switch, they didn’t do that anymore.”

In addition to a strong arm, Washington wielded another weapon. Batting cleanup, she hit .374/.450/.565 with three home runs, 13 doubles and 25 RBI and scored 28 runs to go with five stolen bases.

“She has a big stick,” Tamborello said. “She’s able to hit some longballs for us. She hits the ball hard. When I’m in the third-base box, I’m moving over, moving back. She has quick hands.”

Washington earned District 18-4A Newcomer of the Year honors for the Lady Mustangs, who finished 14-22, including 10-6 in league play, after getting swept by eventual Region III-4A semifinalist Elgin in bi-district.

“We were a totally different team once she stepped in there,” Tamborello said. “She controlled the game for us.

“I think that as scary as it is, she has a lot more to offer us in the future. She’s a very good player. I think it’s only going to get better.”